In a Peony Somatic Dance class, as many of you know from direct experience, the “somatic” aspects are deeply embedded. They’re in the very foundations of the practice. You could say that somatic principles and theories are the very DNA of the work.
You could break down a Peony class into dozens upon dozens of somatic specific techniques, all meant to increase our capacity to hold the reality of our life internally and express that through the body externally.
But there are definitely some basic somatic “exercises” (for lack of a better word) that I include in a variety of ways in almost every class.
And really? We should be doing all three of these every day for even just a minute or so.
Spinning
First up, spinning. Which children are constantly doing. For the pure joy of it. When was the last time you twirled?
If your first response to me is to say that it makes you too dizzy, then you really need it.
You can start by simply walking around ever-tightening circles. You can then progress to super slow spinning and over time increase your speed.
Jumping
This one is always a favorite. And it has so many benefits that the two slides listing the benefits don’t even cover it all.
Again, you don’t have to be able to jump high, and at first, you don’t even have to totally leave the floor.
Shaking
We often combine the shaking with the jumping and together they are exponentially more beneficial in terms of their efficacy to release pent up anger, frustration, fear, and sadness. Add in some yelling and you’e got a potent prescription for freedom
I’ll be covering more and more of these “basics,” and please, feel free to snag the images and share and use them.
(And be sure to follow my Instagram. It’s where I put this stuff first.)